Strength of the Ocean
by Lady Hallen
Summary: Namika dreams of a time when she is called another name, and with powers more powerful than any devil fruit. Fem!Harry Prequel to the Tomb on the Hill.
1. 1-20

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 **1.**

Namika is warm and that is a relief. Though she knows that it is probably temporary, she relishes the warmth that is wrapped around her.

After a moment, she forces her body to stand up. She does not need the warmth anyway, she tells herself. Not if it is comes at the expense of her older brother.

His name isn't really Shanks, but she knows he hates it. It is a reminder of _him_ , and no one wants to remember _him_. Her name isn't as damaging to their young memories, because Shanks was the one to name her.

True enough, he is shivering beside her, the thin blanket that is supposed to be his own wrapped around her.

"Nii-san," she whispers. "Nii-san."

He doesn't move. She gets up, removes the blankets that cover her and then move it over him. He exhales in sharp relief, the lines of his face relaxing.

Namika unwinds her tension, just a little. She wishes she had the powers that she sometimes dreamed about, that strange magic that is more powerful than any devil fruit.

In her dreams, she is called another name and is far more powerful. In her dreams, she is warm but unhappy. She would not want to be like the woman in her dreams who had everything but was alone.

Movement from beside her alert her that her brother is awake. Probably from the sudden warmth.

"Mika," he says, a reprimand in his tone. "Did you just wake up?"

She nods, just to reassure him that no, she did not wake in the middle of the night and give the blanket back to him.

"Let's get breakfast," he says instead but there's a promise of in his tone that the topic wasn't dropped.

 **2.**

Breakfast, being an orphan and one of the many unwanted children in the small island, is difficult. Shanks, being older than her, managed it easier, stealing it from the stalls by chatting up the customers.

Namika had a more difficult time of it. She wove in and out of the crowds, small fingers patting pockets and trying to find her target. She lucks out in and gets 3 beri. A small amount, but it is a big one for orphans.

"You okay?" he asks.

She smiles. "Yes. I want something warm."

At the time of the morning, it is only bread and fried fish that is warm. Everything else is done for the tourists who stop by their island, be they pirate or noble.

It is a meager meal, but Namika is warm. She feels the warmth from her brother's hand and feels as warm as though she was from a tropical island.

Normal children would not be as content, but the sadness of her dreams, of the magical war that ravaged it, made her value the present. Especially her brother.

 **3.**

Their sire, _that man_ , was not kind, but her memories are merciful and she does not remember much. What she mostly remembers is the desperate escape they had, of the thirst as they slowly ran out of water in their little boat.

Vividly, she remembers asking Shanks for more water and the look of resigned defeat on his face when he told her they had no more.

 **4.**

Her dreams grant her a strange sort of maturity, but she is still innocent. It is one thing to see something in your mind and another thing to see it happen in front of you.

She loses a bit of her innocence when her brother is strangled in front of her.

It is her mistake anyway, pickpocketing the wrong people. The woman in her dreams was wary and cautious but Namika isn't. It's more like watching a moving picture, you feel sympathy but it is a detached emotion.

The man is too surprised that the girl doesn't run screaming. She manages to plunge a knife in his ribs and Shanks finishes the job for her once his grip loosens.

"Good one," Shanks mutters to her as they run away, but his face is sad.

Namika snuggles to him that night and tries not to scream too loud when she gets a nightmare.

 **5.**

Namika sometimes wonders why she was reincarnated.

She sometimes thinks that the reason was to preserve her brothers' intellect. _He_ thinks that picking fights is the way to get stronger.

While adversary tested your strength, that meant nothing when you had no strength to begin with.

"No," she says firmly. "No."

He looks almost comically shocked. "Mika," he whines. "But – "

She almost stomps her foot. Honestly, her brother is the densest creature. "No," she reiterates.

After looking at her, he relents, but he somehow manages to acquire a baseball bat and a pipe.

 **6.**

There is a strange boy by the dojo.

Namika catches glimpses of him as she runs around the town.

It is obvious that he is as poor as she is but there is a ferocious strength in him that shows by the way he stands proud.

' _Bloody but unbowed_ ' the phrase comes to mind.

How apt. He is holding a small, wooden shinai that he clenches with ferocity. And he is usually bruised and bleeding too.

 **7.**

Namika and her brother do not have many friends, but they do have acquaintances. It is an inevitable thing when Shanks is one of the most sociable people in the world.

It is the way he laughs, she thinks. Any other person would be morose, but Shanks laughs and it is like sunshine and warm blankets.

It is worth going hungry for, if the number of children that flock to him is any indication.

 **8.**

Shanks does not tell his sister, but he lives for her.

He steals for her and she is the reason why he persists on stealing when he could easily run to the jungles that litter the island. Namika would not survive it and so they stay in the city.

She is fragile and quiet and she looks at him with adoration.

Shanks lives for his sister and dreads the day that she starts coughing just like their mother.

 **9.**

The strange boy runs beside her, one day.

Namika startles, almost stops, but the angry storekeeper behind her reminds her of the beating she would get if she is caught.

"Wha - ?" she asks, gasping a little.

"You run in a line," he observes. He isn't even winded. "That is why he will catch you."

"How?" she manages.

The boy looks at her with his strange, yellow eyes. "Follow me. Watch how I run."

Namika follows and the storekeeper falls behind. He runs in zigzags, strange patterns and even jumping over the trash bin. It's almost enough for her to falter but she burns with determination.

Afterwards, she collapses and the boy is panting lightly.

"Mihawk," he introduces himself once she could breathe properly.

"N-Namika," she stammers, suddenly feeling shy.

It is an odd feeling.

 **10.**

Shanks reacts strangely to Mihawk's presence.

There is a glint in his eyes that does not belong there. It's not a happy look.

"Nii-san," she protests.

Shanks sulks, but Mihawk stays. Namika supposes that having someone spar with you, even if her brother did it badly, is enough incentive for an introvert like Mihawk to stay.

 **11.**

Mihawk seems to only think of one thing: _strength._

Namika doesn't see how he could live without laughter. Shanks seem to think the same thing. He drags Mihawk to games and fun and though it is an exercise in itself to make him laugh, it is worth it to see his yellow eyes light up, rare mischief lurking in it.

Namika runs and plays with them, her quiet presence offsetting her brother's loud sunshine.

 **12.**

She doesn't know what he was thinking when he did it, but she appreciates it.

She turns the elegant dagger in her hands and wonders how to wield it.

"I can teach you," Mihawk offers. There is a light pink dusting his cheeks.

"Please?" she asks.

He takes one look at her green eyes and caves.

 **13.**

Mihawk is a strict taskmaster, never mind that before her, he had never taught anyone else.

Shanks catches them at it and manages to get himself included in the tutoring. He didn't quite beg, but Namika can never be too sure.

The siblings pant and bleed after every session but that is a small price to pay for strength. They know they get better, seeing as the petty gangs that come after them slowly get more bruises than them.

But before that…

 **14.**

"Nii-san," she whispers. "There's a new shipment of shoes today."

He grins. "Good," he says fiercely.

Shipments are messy things and it makes people a bit careless. One or two pairs missing won't matter so much to the Harbormaster, as long as you don't get caught.

They needed new shoes anyway.

Mihawk looks a bit bewildered and so they let him in on the secret. He's barefoot too anyway.

 **15.**

They don't get caught, but it would have probably been a better thing if they had.

The ship that comes in isn't a cargo ship. It is one of those slave ships that often go around and catch people.

The men start pouring out and it is general chaos. Namika runs, hoping that she would run into her brother or Mihawk soon. Both of them are strong and even more so if they worked together.

A hand catches the back of her shirt and she is lifted up. She suppresses a sob.

"Let her go!" Shanks's voice yells out.

Her brother is strong, but so are the slavers. In one blow, he is sent reeling back, cracking his head on a wall.

Namika clutches her cheeks, and watches as the life bleeds out of her brother until he is pale. The slaver drags her away with a sigh.

Like it is a chore.

She hates him more than anything in the world.

 **16.**

Chains shackle her hands, and her feet, though the slavers are hard pressed to find something small enough for her wrist. The exploding collar is tied to her throat and she trembles.

It isn't fear. She is so angry that she just wants him to keel over.

The man wavers a bit, but he stands strong, looking at her with new eyes.

"You're going to fetch a high price with the World Government, brat," he says, pleased.

She bares her teeth at him and he laughs.

 **17.**

There are other people in the cage with her. There is a trio of girls that huddle together. Namika wants to join them but she remembers her brother and how they had once huddled together for warmth.

She flinches and stays away from anyone else's touch.

She misses her brother and she misses his warmth and laughter. He was probably dead.

 **18.**

They land in an Archipelago and she knows that it is here that she will be auctioned.

The fear comes then and she curls into a ball. A hand touches her and she nearly hurls herself away from it.

"Don't cry," the girl says. There is steel in her voice. "Don't you give them the satisfaction of seeing you cry."

Namika manages a smile. The girl's words remind her of Mihawk.

"I wouldn't dare," she croaks out.

A slaver drags her away. The girl calls back, "I am Hancock."

Namika sits up, saying it as loudly as possible. "I am Namika."

Her name is Namika and she is the wave. She is named for the seas that her brother loved, even as a child. She is named after the sea and she will adapt, wearing away at her slavery.

 **19.**

They say she has something dangerous and slap her with a drug. She does not know what happened in the auction, but she wakes up with her back searing from the pain and an obnoxious laugh.

Namika opens her eyes and sees that she has been auctioned to a Tenryuubito.

She seeks further and finds that she is not alone. No, Hancock and her two other friends are there.

"His name is St. Roswald," Hancock says when she feels the weight of her stare.

She blinks in affirmative since moving her body is painful. "He wants us to serve him," Hancock continuous. "In the worst way possible."

Namika doesn't pale, but she clenches her hands, the only part of her she could move.

"I have nothing left to lose," she says through a parched throat. "My brother is dead and Mihawk probably killed himself fighting off the slavers."

Strangely, she cannot seem to cry.

 **20.**

They keep injecting her with a drug, the one who cares for them in the kennels.

It keeps her docile and while she has anger and hatred and fear bubbling underneath the surface, it cannot come out and it is muted.

Namika hates it.

Especially when St. Roswald watches her, throwing food at her kennel and watching her eat it slowly.

She had learned to value food, no matter who it came from. He often got it into his head to starve her to make her more obedient, to stave off the dangerous power that they said she had.

Namika hopes starvation would work because she is sick of feeling muted. It almost felt like she was underwater.

How apt. She is, after all, drowning slowly.

But she never cries.

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 **Soo, this is a Prequel? A prequel of The Tomb on the Hill.**

 **Ideas for next chapter are appreciated.**

 **Please R & R.**

 **~Hallen**


	2. 21-40

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 **21.**

Shanks doesn't quite remember what happened when he started panicking after he discovered that his sister wasn't in their usual hideout – or the other thirty they frequented.

He does remember Mihawk slapping him out of it.

"If she's taken," he had snapped. "Then she's still alive. As you are, you can't do anything about it, as weak as you are."

That was an exaggeration and both of them know it. Shanks's body is tempered by strength and lean muscle. He just needs more experience and he'd be a more troublesome opponent. Still, it is enough of a challenge to make his eyes narrow.

"I am not weak!" he had snarled. "Take that back."

They end up sparring and as both boys lay panting on the ground, bleeding and bruised, Shanks finds that his mind is clearer and he had a more secure goal.

 **22.**

It had been Namika that dissuaded him from picking fights. In her absence, Shanks goes back to his goal of fighting his way to superiority.

The boys in the island respected strength and that is why they left Mihawk alone. Shanks was strong but never picked fights. He changes that by tackling one of the strongest boys.

He smiles grimly as they square off.

 **23.**

Mihawk comes when they are half-way to beating him to a pulp. Shanks doesn't quite know what he did or said because he couldn't hear anything over the throbbing pain in his ears where someone had gotten a lucky hit.

The yellow-eyed brat then drags him away for a more severe beating, after treating his injuries of course.

"You're not getting anywhere," he says, not even breaking a sweat. "Learn some bloody _tactics_."

Shanks is half-willing to bet that Mihawk doesn't actually know what that word means, but it just sounded cool.

He nods to appease the fussy boy and wonders what that word means.

 **24.**

There is a man who breaks up Shanks's latest scuffle. (It is a scuffle, no matter what Mihawk says, not a beating.)

He takes one look at Shanks's puffy face and scoffs.

"You look terrible, brat," he says. "If you fight, at least learn to dodge."

Shanks considers that, remembering the way the man had moved fluidly, dodging a stray punch and following that movement with a quick uppercut. He thinks of his sister and swallows his pride enough to ask.

"If I dodge," he asks. "How will I be able to follow it up as quickly for a punch?"

The man smirks. "Practice, kid. I've got time. Wanna try and hit me?"

Shanks smiles and throws himself at the man with a yell.

 **25.**

It is exhilarating but also painful. Mihawk is one thing but he had lacked experience.

On closer inspection, the man had not been a man at all but a very tall teenager with a rather muscled build.

Shanks smiles through the pain because he had lesser bruises. After a while, his hits had started to get stronger and the teenager's eyes had gone wide with surprise.

"Haki," he commented. "You've got Armament Haki."

Shanks has one eyelid almost closed and he has a hard time breathing. The teenager takes one look at him and shakes his head.

"I'll tell you later then," he mutters.

 **26.**

Mihawk finds the errant red-head and feels a large fission of worry climb up his spine when he finds a tall figure lounging beside Shanks's prone self.

"Who are you?" he demands. If it is rude, no one he likes too much is around to hear it.

The boy smiles crookedly. "Benn Beckman," he answers. He is unbothered by Mihawk's rudeness. Though, if he had spent enough time with the red-head, rudeness is the least of his problems.

"Did you do that to him?" he asks.

Benn sighs. "I'm not looking for trouble. He attacked me, looking for experience, so I obliged him." He glances back at Shanks snoring away like a bear. "Did you know your friend is capable of Armament Haki?"

Haki? He had heard of it but the idea…

"What is that?" Mihawk asks. He really doesn't like asking questions. It made him feel stupid, which he was not.

Benn looks incredulous. "You don't know?!" he gapes. "And here I thought you did, since you're using a weak Observation Haki."

Mihawk glares at him and Benn sighs again.

 **27.**

Benn, both boys quickly find out, is the wandering sort of merchant that wants to meet the pirate king. What for, they don't know. What they do know is that he wields haki absently, almost like a second skin so as not to get pickpocketed.

He is staying in the island for a short while so he agrees to teach the boys everything he knows on the subject.

"I'm on an errand for my uncle anyway," he says easily. "If you help me out here, I can even pay you."

They set up a system of sorts that has Mihawk frowning fiercely. He is still peeking into the dojo window to learn swordsmanship and it interfered with his schedule.

 **28.**

It takes a while, but they eventually learn. It gives them bruises and cuts and Mihawk scowls even more fiercely. Shanks laughs and says, "You'll learn twenty different ways on how to frown at a person before we finish this." Mihawk is not amused.

Benn finds them amusing and says so.

 **29.**

The first time Shanks comes out of a brawl uninjured, he looks at his hands with some measure of shock.

Then he throws himself at Benn with a hug and a dramatic laugh. "Yes! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!"

Benn had also been teaching them more words to expand their vocabulary, you see.

 **30.**

Shanks sleeps alone since the boys separate once the lessons are over. None of the others know that he cannot dream peacefully. It's easy to hide sleepiness with laughter. Benn often works him to exhaustion anyway and it is a good excuse to fall unconscious.

But he is getting better and it is harder to hide the bags under his eyes.

He dreams of his sister and wonders if she is still alive.

 **31.**

Benn eventually leaves and Shanks contemplates leaving as well since there was no more competition for him to beat, except Mihawk. But fighting the same person really didn't give much experience except knowledge of one fighting style.

And the island, however inhospitable it is to homeless orphans, is home. If Namika ever manages to escape or leave, she would look for him here.

So he dithers and worries.

 **32.**

Mihawk decides for him by pushing him in a boat and watching smugly as Shanks squawks indignantly, flailing as he fell over his head.

By the time Shanks gets his bearings, the small boat is too far away, but it isn't too far away to yell at Mihawk.

"You bastard!" he yells, though the effect is slightly ruined by the laughter in his voice. "Don't you dare stop looking for her!"

Mihawk just arches one eyebrow. It is already a given, that he would look for her as he trained with various masters all over the world.

After all, she was his first friend.

 **33.**

Shanks meets a boy named Buggy.

To elucidate, the boy named Buggy is the leader of one of the gangs that litter the island that Shanks docks in. He summarily meets Shanks's fist and they devolve in a flurry of fists and feet.

Shanks is better off, having been taught by Benn for a while but Buggy had been fighting for a longer time.

He keeps at it though, for longer than usual with his stubbornness.

A group of pirates find them going at it and stop to watch like it is a show.

 **34.**

It is a draw and that annoys both boys so much that when they wake up, after having been knocked unconscious, they immediately turn their backs on each other with a childish ' _humph!'_.

It makes the pirates attending to them laugh.

"My name is Roger," the captain introduces himself. "Captain of the Roger Pirates."

Shanks made a face at the same time Buggy said, "You named it after yourself?"

Buggy finds a fist thunked into his skull and Shanks laughs loudly.

"Idiot!" he says gleefully. "Don't insult pirate crews."

Roger snorts. "Pirate crews. Brats, I'm in need of cabin boys. Join my crew."

This time, it is Shanks that opens his mouth. "You watched us hit each other and you just suddenly ask us that. I dunno, it seems creepy to me."

A fist is thunked into his skull this time and he whines quietly, unheard under Buggy's boisterous laughter.

 **35.**

Nighttime is always when the urgency to find his sister grows.

Morning is for training and looking for sparring partners. Nighttime is for questions. Night is also when his nightmares overtake him.

"Captain," he asks the large man. "Where do slaves go?"

The captain stills, as does the first mate. They look at him solemnly.

"To the Grand Line, brat," Rayleigh answers. "What of it?"

Shanks eyes burn with fire and steel. It is also dark with memory and desperation.

"My sister," he says to them. "I'm looking for my sister. I won't rest until I find her."

"You'll have to look fairly hard," Roger says. "If it's been a while, then she's already been auctioned."

Shanks clenches his fists and doesn't answer.

 **36.**

It is troublesome, but Rayleigh had to take care of in-boat fighting.

Roger would just laugh and say something about nakama beating each other up with love.

"What's it this time?" he asks loudly to the crew member beside him as they watch Buggy and Shanks scuffle on the deck.

The man shrugs. "Dunno. They were suddenly at it."

It becomes obvious that it is Shanks that look for fights. Rayleigh turns to Roger because there was a glint of _something_ in Roger's eyes as he'd looked at the red-headed boy.

"The brat is looking for fights," the captain answers readily enough. "Because he looks to be stronger. I think he was there when his sister was taken."

It gives insight, certainly, but it is still annoying.

Damn brats.

 **37.**

The offer of training actually curbs the incessant fighting but this time, it is because the injuries are more severe, more serious.

Rayleigh sighs and looks to his captain for more insight.

Roger just chuckles, though there is a hint of worry in his eyes. "He's exhausting himself," the man answers. "I soothed two nightmares already."

Bugger it. Damn brats, but he is starting to care too. The boys had a way of growing on you, particularly Shanks. And that's only because of the worry.

 **38.**

A devil fruit is found and the younger ones crowd near it, especially Shanks and Buggy.

Shanks, after hearing the side-effects, hesitates only for a moment and then shakes his head. He loves the sea too much to not swim in it. It is his greatest love, the ocean. It is a love nearly as great as his love for his sister.

Buggy accepts it and they found out the effects of the fruit at the same time Shanks is handed a training sword.

Everybody just _stares_ as the decapitated hand just hovers in mid-air, not falling or bleeding.

Buggy squeals and then faints.

Shanks grins and then promises to himself not to let his fellow cabin-boy ever forget it.

 **39.**

Sparring with Buggy becomes more challenging, until Shanks starts using his haki.

Immediately, all the pirates around him stop what they're doing and just _looks_ at him.

Shanks doesn't notice and continues to use Observation Haki on creeping limbs and sneak attacks behind his back.

Roger stops the spar and asks Shanks to try and hit him.

Considering that he'd been asking to spar with the captain as soon as he stepped foot on the boat, he yelled and just threw himself at the man.

 **40.**

This is true training, Shanks thinks as he is nearly unconscious on the ground.

Roger is a stern, slightly sadistic taskmaster. Mihawk had nothing on him. Shanks cannot count the number of times that he went to bed and woke up in the morning with bloodied sheets.

He doesn't complain, not once. He thinks of small Namika and her preciously few years, of how she would cling to him when the market crowd grew many and crushing.

He bears the strain of muscles and the strain of training and grits his teeth.

He thinks of the hell his sister must be going through and says nothing.

* * *

 **More ideas pls...**

 **Please R & R**

 **~Hallen**


	3. 41-60

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 **41.**

Mihawk is not lonely.

For as long as he can remember, Mihawk has always been alone.

Though he has vivid memories of a straight-backed man with yellow eyes and a firm strength, it is his mother that he remembers better, with her pasty skin and her deteriorating health. He had been unable to protect her, as he had promised his missing father and that grated on him.

To protect the people he cared about with the strength of his sword. Thus, he had to learn to be the best.

He is not lonely. He is searching for Namika and getting stronger.

 **42.**

Rumors are his allies.

He spends most of his time listening to people talk and he filters through that, making note of what they mention and what they _don't_ mention.

It's been years since he's been doing this and he has it down to art form.

He uses rumors to find himself the best sword masters and to get tidbits of information about his missing friend.

Frustratingly, the latter is near unheard of. No one _mentions_ it at all.

 **43.**

Mihawk has gone strong enough that he finds people that make a mockery of the way of the sword and nearly kills some of them for the presumption.

Finally he finds someone strong enough and settles. It is in the North Blue, a far cry from the West Blue. But it will have to do for a moment.

Meanwhile, he slowly spreads his roots among the children and tries and find out about slavery.

 **44.**

It is the first time he bleeds quite heavily due to his own mistake.

Signature moves really are signature moves due to how they are tailored to a specific person's physique. Mihawk is too short, too young and too lean to be able to pull that move off and it had hurt him.

He staggers and bleeds, all alone in an abandoned house.

It takes his willpower not to die when he succumbs to a fever.

That night, he descends into nightmares and weeps silent tears for Namika.

 **45.**

Mihawk recovers and contemplates getting a master. He also wonders at his own health if he is contemplating that when it is quite obvious that he does not have anything to pay anybody.

Everything he learned about survival, he learned from the siblings.

With a pang, he wonders how Shanks is doing and if Namika is still alive.

 **46.**

He finds his next master by accident.

Mihawk thinks that perhaps he has spent too much time with Shanks when he winds up surrounded by a gang of boys. It is entirely the red-haired boy's fault and he curses him vehemently in his head.

His next master finds him leaning on a wall and surrounded by moaning and unconscious boys.

Mihawk had enough pride in him to be chagrined at the chiding look and to be very annoyed at the subsequent look of disappointment.

 **47.**

"What are you doing, swinging that shinai around when you're just tainting it by fighting without honor?" the man asks.

Mihawk feels his back straighten with his irritation.

"I did not seek a fight," he said, eyes shining with steel and fire. "I do not run from unfair battles, especially when they are a challenge to me."

The man looks very amused.

"What is your name, lad?" he asks.

"Mihawk. My name is Dracule Mihawk."

The man smiles and he feels a shiver run down his spine.

 **48.**

Mihawk always rises early and he often chances to see red sunrise.

It annoys him that it reminds him of red hair and quiet laughter. Her name doesn't help. 'Namika', after the ocean.

He clenches his hands on his newer wooden sword and promises to get strong faster.

"I'll find you," he murmurs. "I promise it. Stay alive, Namika."

The sunrise always leaves him with renewed determination. If his master is surprised at the fire in his eyes every time he comes down from the roof, he doesn't say anything.

 **49.**

There are pirates he can forgive, who only travel around to meet new people. But there are pirates he really wants to see dead. Those who loot and pillage like it's the greatest fun in the world.

Mihawk trembles with the force of his anger when he sees the fire and hears the screams.

"Don't," his teacher advices, a large hand on his shoulder. "We cannot fight all of them. And if we succeed, then they will bring their friends for revenge."

He grits his teeth, thinks of red hair and shining green eyes. He shakes off his teachers hand and looks at the man squarely in the eyes.

"I learn to protect people," he says seriously. "If I cannot do that, then I am better off throwing away my sword."

With those words, he throws himself into the burning town and tried to lead as many people as he can to safety.

 **50.**

His master does not say anything.

Perhaps he knows that whatever he will say will be futile anyway. Either way, Mihawk doesn't care. The only thing his Master has any say at all is in how he wields his sword and that is that.

Mihawk does what he can to be able to sleep at night, knowing that he did his best to atone for his sin of not being there for his friend.

Small, utterly defenseless Namika who he still hears screaming in his dreams.

 **51.**

Mihawk does not count the years. He only notes the seasons and thinks of wearing the appropriate clothes.

More often than not, he does not wear a shirt because it spares him from washing his own blood.

In this state, he utilizes a small bit of Armament Haki, so that he does not bite his own tongue from shivering in the cold.

His master takes note of that too and increases their spars accordingly, until Mihawk is using haki constantly, unconsciously. Like breathing or blinking.

 **52.**

He breaks his sword the first time and it is as painful as he had expected.

There's nothing physical about breaking a sword. Mihawk always knows that inside each sword was a spirit and being so in tune with it, he felt the loss as keenly as anything.

He stares at the shards of his weapon blankly, until his Master pats him on the back and brings him to the blacksmith.

He looks at the sword gingerly when it is returned to him, remembering its broken state.

 **53.**

Mihawk fixes the idea of his sword breaking with haki.

The thought is not new to him. If haki can be extended outside the user's body, then it could also be extended to make his sword unbreakable.

His master listens, eyebrows raising higher and higher the longer he rambles.

"Well," his master mutters. "Children really have the strangest ideas. But if you can manage that, you really will be never without a weapon as anything can become unbreakable with just a touch."

Mihawk hadn't thought of that and it makes his eyes gleam and he smiles with glee.

His master looks at his face and shudders.

 **54.**

His little project keeps him busy and tired, making him fall asleep immediately without any dreams or nightmares.

But he doesn't forget about Namika and finally asks his master, in a fit of frustration when all rumors proved useless.

The man hums, fingers thumbing his pipe thoughtfully.

"Slavery," he rumbles, voice just as deep and soothing as ever. "That filthy practice. It's all kept in the Grand Line, brat. Everybody likes to pretend it doesn't exist outside the Grand Line."

Mihawk blinks. Somehow, he knows that his red-haired, hot-headed friend is on his way there.

"I will defeat you first," he tells the man. "And find another master in another corner of the sea. When I have finished all parts of the sea outside of the Grand Line that can teach me, I will go there and look for her."

His master is long used to his words by now. Anybody else might have thought it was arrogance but it was just him stating facts.

The man rolls his eyes and grasps the handle of his sword. "Who is this 'her' you speak of? Don't try and dismiss help when it's willingly given, brat."

Mihawk looks up, staring at the slowly occurring sunset and all the reds, orange and gold that is happening to the sky. He does not see his smile, but his master does and the man is dumbfounded. It is such a gentle smile.

"Her name is Namika," he whispers. "And she has red-hair. I promised her that I will find her."

His master does not say anything after that.

 **55.**

He gets closer to his master after that conversation and actually opts to share something with the man instead of just cold indifference.

"I was taught how to survive in the wild," he says once, on the brink of sleep. "By those red-haired siblings. They never let me forget it."

His master smirks. "See, brat? Not all people must stand alone. And while I am teaching you the sword, I am teaching you a way of living too."

He gives the man one especially crafted glare for annoyance. Irritatingly, it only makes the man laugh harder.

 **56.**

His master receives a visitor and he is told to ready his sword.

"She will visit and you will oblige her with a fight," his master says.

A woman. Mihawk blinks and tries not to scowl. He does not like fighting women and he tells his master so.

"Even so," he tells Mihawk firmly. "Not all women are as fragile and easily ill as your Namika. You will ready your sword and see what I mean."

Mihawk does see what his master means. Especially since the woman is a devil-fruit user. It does startle both of them when his sword can strike her insubstantial form.

He realizes _why_ at the same time as she curses.

His haki hurts her and he bares his teeth and lunges.

 **57.**

"Well," his master mutters. "That was interesting."

Interesting is one way to cover it, when Mihawk had almost killed her.

"I'll have to teach you about holding back," he continues.

But no one is listening because both his student and his guest are out cold and sleeping, injuries lightly bandaged.

 **58.**

The traders come, and Mihawk hides.

He does not trust traders and he does not like boats. He will tolerate them for the sake of travel but he will never travel in groups, announcing his arrival like that and causing mayhem and havoc.

Once he is old enough, Mihawk swears to only travel by himself.

 **59.**

They open the newspaper once and finds a new bounty. Mihawk feels such _staggering relief_ that he has to sit down.

He supposes that the World Government doesn't know the favor their doing to the loved ones of pirates by announcing their well-being on the paper.

"Is that your red-haired boy?" his master asks once he regains his composure.

Mihawk scowls. "He's not _my_ red-haired boy."

His master laughs.

 **60.**

The first knowledge Mihawk gets about Namika is from a newspaper clipping.

It isn't about her, thank goodness. He only sees a small part of her in the picture but he knows that it is her.

He sees her small self, crouched in a cage. It is a background picture of an arrogant nobles marriage but Mihawk barely notes that. He eyes memorize that small, grainy picture greedily.

She is alive and that is the only confirmation he needs.

.

* * *

.

 **I need more ideas. Like, help. I have a general idea in my brain but those extra juicy stuff are like, missing.**

 **R & R.**

 **~Hallen**


	4. 61-80

**.**

* * *

 **61.**

It's hard to register time when you can't even be awake long enough to know if it's day or night.

Namika finds that it is better this way since she doesn't really have to be lucid for long, but she knows that she hates it too. She would rather have her mind and feel the pain than to be numb and not know how her body is being violated as property.

Hancock is her lodestone in this point. Hancock, who is constant and always there when she wakes from her drugs.

"Try to wake up and stand," she always pleads. "You have to work your muscles."

Atrophy is a concept she knows, from those dark memories that she has. So she always struggles and moves, working her body to at least some semblance of working order.

Thankfully, the Slave Kennels are clean and there is some room to walk, if only for a few feet. They are crowded with other slaves and they watch her with some pity. She is in the worst condition of them all, bar one old man who had been a slave all his life.

"How many years has it been?" she asks out loud.

A man answers, voice hoarse. "You came here two years ago."

Two years. Namika's step falters.

 **62.**

Her owner decides to bring her out of the Kennels, to bring her to Sabaody Archipelago for another purchase. Namika tries not to tremble with the force of her anger.

What terrible timing for her drugs to be administered late.

She hides her ire behind the curtain of her red hair. It had gotten rather long because Hancock refused to cut it. She pretends to be subservient the entire journey and St. Roswald remarks that he wishes he could just stop giving her the drug since she was nicer when she was lucid.

Namika clenches her hands behind her hair and thinks of fifty different ways to kill him with a spoon.

 **63.**

She wakes up with a sudden gasp, heart thundering. But there is no noise except for her heartbeat, because it had become instinct to stifle her cries after a nightmare. She did not want the attention of the Kennel Master, any more than usual.

Namika supposes she is lucky to be years younger than Hancock. Proud Hancock who was already so obviously beautiful that the Kennel Master pick on her, like an ignorant boy pulling on a girls pigtails.

It's counterproductive and, in moments when she can be coherent, she tries to protect Hancock with the little fighting techniques that stayed in her mind.

Sadly, it doesn't do much good.

 **64.**

What bothers Namika most is that the drugs leave her inside her mind, unable to interact with the world.

It is as terrible as drowning and even worse than petrification, the feeling helpfully supplied by her annoying memories.

She does not know how long she spends in her mind, trapped. Neither does she know how long she tries to catch the fleeting memories, slowly vanishing like mist in the sunlight.

Namika is losing her memories and it is more terrible than being whipped for talking back.

Wounds heal, leaving some scars. But memories that disappear are harder to bring back.

 **65.**

It is her birthday, and she knows it because one St. Roswald's friends throw inside the Kennel a newspaper.

Idiot. Foolish, foolish idiot.

There is a reason why slaves aren't given newspapers.

It gives them something to study, something to occupy their time with aside from moping in misery. It gives them _information_.

All of the men who are in better condition crowd over the newspaper. Hancock along with her friends crouch near Namika and her sparse blanket. There are other huddles besides theirs and they wait their turn to read the paper. But Namika's hoarse voice cuts through the hubbub easily.

"What is the date?" she asks.

One of the men glances over and says, "November 1st"

Namika takes in a shuddering breath. "Oh," she says in a smaller voice. "I suppose I can appreciate the irony."

Hancock smiles at her wearily. "What is it, gentle wave?"

She gives a sad shudder. "It's my birthday, I guess. If that thing isn't outdated."

They have no means to give presents but all of the rest of the prisoners give her small portions of their already meager food.

The food helps burn away the drugs injected in her system and she weeps a little as she can finally sleep without the numbing feeling of the drugs trapping her in dreams that she could not escape.

Her friends huddle close and she is warm again, if only for a moment.

 **66.**

There is a boy in her dreams who loves her. He calls himself Blaise.

Namika wavers, wondering if he is part of her old memories, or a figment of her drugged mind.

Sometimes, when she allows herself to be weak, she thinks that he is beautiful and wonders how he died. She knows he dies because he never quite reaches a certain age, always hovering between being a child and being a man and never settling on one.

There is also another boy in her dreams but he is more fleeting, more elusive than the sunlight that they cannot see in the Kennels.

He has yellow eyes and the fierceness of a hawk. She does not know if he is real or not.

Namika often wakes from those dreams, hands outstretched and trying to catch such an elusive bird of prey.

 **67.**

Hancock wonders sometimes, at the dark wisdom that sometimes peeked from Namika's eyes.

It is age old weariness and years of experience packed into the body of a child. No one ought to have eyes like that and no one should have eyes like that.

Granted, all of them were tired of being used like property, of being abused like they were lesser than humans. The mark of the Hoof of the Tenryuubito is particularly damning and Hancock hates it. She hates it even more than anything in the world.

If she could, she would burn off her own skin, but being a slave had taught her one thing and that was keeping herself able and strong. Strong enough to withstand the abuse and strong enough to keep her head bowed.

In that, even Namika surpassed all of them, even those who had been born slaves.

She keeps her strength and her will to live. She never falters.

Hancock envies her, just a little, because the thought to take her life had crossed her mind, once or twice.

 **68.**

A new slave comes, but she is weak. She cries in her area for an entire month and does nothing but blubber and tremble every time someone approached, be it for comfort or inflicting pain.

Everyone looks at her with some disgust. They are each other's strength in the Kennel, they did not need a constant rain cloud to remind them of their situation. The could have used a person who smiled.

Namika just cocks her head to the side and wonders why the girl fears shadows.

It does not help that their area has little to no light.

 **69.**

"She is scared of the dark," Namika tells everyone once her tears and blubbering have died off, the evidence that she had once again cried herself to sleep.

A wry smirk. "That's _really_ unfortunate."

Someone huffs a laugh, albeit a strained one. A broken rib. "It's not like we can conjure sunlight for her."

" _I_ wish I can conjure warmer blankets," another one remarks.

That starts a debate about wishful thinking and all that, Hancock just listens and taps her head to the side, looking bemused.

"I wonder if we can acclimate her to the darkness," she muses.

Namika just shrugs, a slow movement that is barely perceptible, but her shoulders hurt from her latest session with their master.

"You can do it," she encourages. "It would be better for everybody not to hear weeping too. I really can't help. My drugs are wearing off so they'll knock me high again tomorrow."

She does not look at Hancock's eyes because they always fill with pity at the mention of the drugs. Namika just lolls her head to the side and works her fingers.

 **70.**

She is slowly getting immunity from the drugs.

Namika finds this a little ridiculous, but she noticed so slowly, caught up in her irritation, but the drugs aren't sufficient anymore, not for her. She is adjusting and it is brilliant.

She is in a body of a fourteen year old and children always bounce back very quickly. She had forgotten that and she entertains herself with that thought.

She will act drugged when they dose her and try to regain her former mobility.

Tenryuubito may have been powerful, but they really weren't quite that smart.

 **71.**

Namika makes it a game.

She may have been a child, but she had the memories of a war hero.

Some of those memories were hazy but the clearest of them all were war tactics and psychological warfare. So she applies that, making herself a little more loveable, a little more indispensable and making her masters son depend on her.

He is truly despicable and a filthy arse, but he is stupid and easily manipulated.

Hancock watches her efforts, very much impressed.

 **72.**

"Why do you do it?" the others ask her in her more lucid moments, when the drugs thin and she can look at them all without squinting.

"Hmm?" she mutters. "What?"

"Why bother manipulating them?" they continue to ask.

Namika laughs and it isn't a nice sound. "They're all idiots. So stupid and drunk on their power that it makes them overconfident and obnoxious."

There were murmurs of agreement.

"But think about it," she adds. "They think they are so brilliant that they forget there is always someone better. How it would burn them when I have danced on their corpses. I'll make that boy my tool. He will need me, seek me and I will be shielded, if only for a while because he will always ask for me and his father cannot use me at the same time."

They look at her with respect and awe.

Namika thinks it is rather damning to the morals when the people think it's a normal thing for a fourteen year old to mention an assassination plot without thinking it's wrong.

 **73.**

St. Charloss, her masters son, is always needy, asking her for games.

Having two memories worth of loneliness and having to come up with her own games to chase away boredom, Namika has a lot. But she does not give him everything. She makes sure she gets ' _ill'_ once in a while and making him unable to have her company.

His frustration is beautiful and she makes sure to follow it up with reassuring words, implying that she wanted to see him but her master was too harsh and the amateur doctor assigned to their Kennel had told her to rest.

It is brilliant.

He starts to unintentionally shield her. It works better because of his explosive temper and his unbelievably childish methods.

Namika doesn't know how to smile anymore, but she does think of him with amusement. Silly little idiot, willingly walking towards his own death.

 **74.**

Hancock is the favorite of the Kennel Master and Namika sees the potential there, if only she would cooperate.

Hancock is from Amazon Lily, an island that foster only women and it is no wonder that she gravitated towards Namika, a girl.

But Hancock had never tried to seduce or manipulate a man before. Namika would rather avoid the possible disaster.

It is a shame, but while Namika is a good teacher, she had never really tried teaching seduction and manipulation to a girl older than her.

 **75.**

Slaves have a certain life-expectancy.

Usually, it is only one year. That is always because the masters kill their own slaves out of boredom, because of escape attempts or illness and untreated injuries.

The special slaves are the ones that are hardy enough to survive those injuries, keep their head down and manage to be interesting enough that their master doesn't quite manage to kill them for their entertainment value.

The companions they have in the Kennel are being replaced, one by one until it is only Hancock and her, along with the other two girls. There are some of the older ones that stay alive, but they eventually kill themselves. The blubbering girl had died, killing herself by bleeding to death.

They are the senior slaves now, even if they are younger than almost all of them.

How strange.

 **76.**

One day, Hancock comes back, being dragged on the floor and feverishly ill.

Behind her, the two sisters are in the same state and moaning each other's name.

To keep up the ruse of the drugs working, Namika couldn't run to them while the Kennel Master is watching. But she does signal some of the newer slaves to gently pick up the fallen girls and put them on their cots.

Namika is so mind-blindingly angry that she really cannot breathe.

 **77.**

She gets her information from St. Charloss and he tells her what they had eaten.

Devil Fruits.

Damn it all, but that is the one thing in the entire world that she cannot cure, for it is an irreversible process.

While she would want the power, she wants being able to swim even more.

Her namesake, the sea, is the perfect hiding place after all.

 **78.**

The results of the Devil Fruit shows when Namika wakes up to find Hancock standing over the stone sculpture of the Kennel Master. The girl is repeatedly kicking the man's nose, and it very satisfying to watch it break.

Marigold and Sandersonia manifest their new abilities with ill timing. It is when Hancock is being punished and they try to bite the master.

Ah well, some things were just out of control, but they could have timed it better.

All three of them were locked away, apart from the Kennels and into the deeper dungeon of Mariejois.

Namika grits her teeth and refines her plans.

 **79.**

She poisons St. Charloss and everybody thinks it's an accident.

Namika laughs, until they call in an Admiral to investigate.

They find her and drag her to join Hancock in the dungeons, and she bites her lips to keep her screams in as they whip her.

No, they will never have the satisfaction of hearing her cry.

She passes out on the fifteenth whip and dreams of a boy with red hair and an easy smile like the sun.

She wonders who he is, even as her back is being ripped to shreds.

 **80.**

Her back is on fire when she is being roughly shaken awake.

She sees a fishman looking at her with some concern, but mostly urgency.

"Hurry," he whispers. "You must leave here. There is a vessel to take you from here."

"Hancock," she tells the man. "There are three other girls here under punishment as well."

He nods, eyes hard and decisive. "I will."

In the end, she had to be carried by another of the more familiar slaves. It is a good thing they all respect her enough to leave her alone when she shivers into the blanket they are all given.

"Where are we going?" she mutters. No one answers her and she opens her eyes irritably, only to be silenced abruptly by what she is seeing.

How… _beautiful_.

The sun is rising and the sea waters turn gold. Namika had vowed to never cry, but it is a close thing, once she saw it.

People often connected sunrises with hope and she could finally understand why.

.

* * *

 **.**

 **Yes, Namika has forgotten Shanks. It's like, a defense mechanism for the traumatized mind to forget the trauma, but don't worry, this isn't permanent.**

 **Please R & R.**

 **~Hallen**


	5. 81-100

**Warnings: A bit of gore**

* * *

 **.**

 **81.**

Shanks is finding himself stronger, but he takes care not to get arrogant. Rayleigh had pounded it into his head enough times to know why.

It is hard not to, what with Buggy.

Buggy had his Devil-Fruit and all the problems that came with it. However the advantages that came with the powers, Buggy wasn't suited to fighting.

Shanks though. Shanks had found out that he could fight and beat down people twice his size, and nearly twice his power with just some quick thinking.

He is suited to fighting and that just makes him sad, thinking about a young Namika telling him not to fight because it would hurt people.

 **82.**

Rayleigh eventually tells him what his power is that is on par with or even stronger than a Devil Fruit.

Conquerors Haki, the rarest kind of haki.

It made people fall unconscious if their will was not strong enough and made people listen to him.

It is such a leg up from being a useless, spurned street urchin. It burns him too, to realize that if he had realized his gift earlier, he could have prevented his sister's slavery.

 **83.**

Roger is the ideal kind of pirate captain, the one that makes every day an adventure and doesn't give unreasonable demands of his crew.

Shanks could say that he loves him like a father, except he wouldn't dare compare his captain to his good-for-nothing, scum-of-the-earth father. So he just calls him Old Man Roger.

The captain bears it willingly, albeit grudgingly if the sound thrashing he received afterward is any indication. Shanks just accepts all beatings and dishes out as good as he gets.

 **84.**

Shanks doesn't despair when all searches turn up nothing.

He accepts that he can't have everything and just searches harder. The rest of the crew, his family, looks at his search and doesn't declare it stupid or ridiculous. They give him the means to do so and puts him to bed when he is roaring drunk in depression.

Buggy bears his desperate punches and doesn't treat him like glass.

Rayleigh listens to him when he rants and the captain punches him when he becomes unreasonable.

 **85.**

It would be inevitable that he finally hears about Mihawk.

It's hard to mistake his friend, given his piercing yellow eyes and the sword strapped to his waist in the picture. He is a new bounty hunter and the article extrapolates about how cold he is, how capable.

Shanks wants to punch them all in the face.

It's very easy to understand somebody when you've fought with them for years. The picture shows the lines of strain on Mihawk's face, of how tense his body is.

Mihawk is not happy. Mihawk is pushing himself with a punishing and terrible pace. Mihawk is lonely.

 **86.**

After the Incident with the Newspaper, as the younger recruits were calling it, Shanks sits down, thinks and extrapolates, mulling over the picture and noticing details that he had missed the first time.

He thinks that Mihawk's personality, while a bit dense and gloomy, is not one for vengeance.

Mihawk would never kill for vengeance, he was more likely to kill out of boredom. He probably became a Bounty Hunter by complete accident.

Shanks laughs so hard that he falls to the floor.

 **87.**

His captain is called the Pirate King by the many enemies the man seems to gather.

The crew exchanges incredulous looks behind their backs and wonders if they'd hit their head too hard.

Their hot-tempered captain, a pirate king?

Roger was fairly sensational and a very good pirate. He wasn't always a good man though. Point, his long held grudge with Whitebeard.

Shanks holds in his giggles while Buggy gives up and howls on the floor.

Their captain scowls at them, raising a threatening fist further proving their point.

 **88.**

Trouble comes to them; they no longer go looking for trouble.

The title of Pirate King is annoying and very much like a magnet. It attracts attention.

Roger revels in it like a lizard warming himself in the sun. Rayleigh gets gray hairs controlling what the marines will report about.

Shanks decides right then that he doesn't want to be a pirate king. He wants to have fun and to drink merrily. Pirate King is a nice title and all, but it seems to be a constant annoyance too.

 **89.**

The first clue comes from a man, surprisingly.

Shanks had a good memory, but this is the first man that had ever beaten him. The children didn't count. This man made his sister scream and cry, and his face is burned into Shanks's memory.

He downs him quickly, efficiently to the shock of the people watching. To the surprise of his crew, Shanks doesn't leave the man to lie prone on the floor. He drags the man back to the boat, a savage look of anger on his face that cleared a path for him.

His haki is all over the place and everyone avoids him, except the Captain and Rayleigh.

"What's this, brat?" the Captain asks.

Shanks kicks the unconscious man on the ribs pettily. "I remember his face. He is the man who took my sister from me."

Rayleigh holds him back while Old Man Roger crouches down so he is level with the man.

"I'll take care of asking him," Roger says, a quiet and predatory aura all over him. "Your haki is all over the place, brat. Control yourself or he'll keep passing out before we can ask him."

Shanks bares his teeth at the scum and stalks out.

 **90.**

They get it out of him, in small terrified increments.

The rest of the crew hold no sympathy towards the slaver. They all hate slavery, being pirates. Slavery is, after all, the anti-thesis of piracy. And they had all heard Shanks and Namika's tale.

Anyone with a heart would be moved, if only a little. Shanks's idolization of his sister helped too.

 **91.**

His name is Boris and he is an ass.

Rayleigh is half-tempted to allow his Captain to use the man as a target practice. The stress from watching over a cranky Shanks accumulates and almost clouds over his judgement, except that Buggy helps him sort out Shanks.

Rayleigh cranks a little smile.

Buggy will be a great First Mate someday.

 **92.**

"Little red-hair?" the slaver slumps, face covered in blood and bruises. "Ah, the feisty one. Nearly didn't get sold. She awoke her haki in the ship. We almost crashed, the captain fell asleep. Had to drug her or we never would have reached the archipelago."

Rogers smile is not kind. "Who bought her?" he says softly.

"A tenryuubito," he answers, hacking out a wet cough.

The man's fate is a forgone conclusion. It really is. Rayleigh just sighs through his nose as a wet squelch comes and there is the sound of blood pouring.

 **93.**

It only took a careful cross-examination and a lot of ground work. Roger, Rayleigh and Shanks separate from the Jolly Roger to do some digging. The crew party and adventure in a Winter Island.

Shanks is almost vibrating with tension. He wants to know. He wants to hurt. Most of all, he wants to see her kind, green eyes as she smiles at him from the depths of her soul.

They find the name St. Roswald and slump, a mixture of giddiness and despair.

 **94.**

"It would be folly to mount an attack by ourselves," Roger says. "We'll have to plan this carefully."

But then, the captain contacts an illness that makes him cough up blood and suddenly, all promises of glory and finding his most precious treasure is gone.

Shanks scowls at the Old Man, but he understands too. He already had the information, all he had to do was use it. The captain was sick and didn't need other troubles to burden him, what with him disbanding the crew and ensuring everyone's safety and happiness.

They had all become notorious enough that marines would recognize them on sight.

 **95.**

The execution is set. Shanks risks it and attends the execution. He spies several other famous pirates and people in the square and he just _knows_ that his flashy captain would do something outrageous.

This falls through when his captain suddenly declares _One Piece_ in front of the entire assembly, and that's not even taking into account the various media's filming the entire thing.

It should be a solemn thing, but Shanks finds himself struggling with his laughter through his tears. His captain is brilliantly ridiculous, even when dying. The rain falls and it is a blessing.

Moving away from the execution platform, he feels a familiar glare and glances around, finally meeting Mihawk's eyes for the first time in years.

 **96.**

"You look ridiculously flashy," Shanks has to say. It really came out instead of a proper greeting because the plume in Mihawk's hat is starting to annoy him.

Mihawk scowls, knowing what he means and removing the hat. "It was available and it is raining," he grouches. "Why are you here?"

Shanks shrugs. "My captain got executed," he says.

Mihawk is incredulous. "You served under that ridiculously flashy man?" he says, throwing back Shanks's words at him.

He scowls at him. "Stop that. I have a boat. Let's talk there."

MIhawk stops him by pulling on the collar of his shirt. "No, idiot. Let's go to my room. It's raining! I don't want to be tossed around by waves unless it's necessary."

Shanks allows himself to be dragged away and finds himself smiling.

 **97.**

It's a strange thing.

They had not seen each other in years, yet conversation comes easy to both of them.

Perhaps it was because they had each kept the memory of each other fresh instead of forgetting and moving on.

It only took an hour and Shanks had Mihawk smiling again, the hard lines around his eyes softening and he looked less like a predatory bird and more like a young man.

In turn, Mihawk hits Shanks several more times and there is a little application of haki that makes Mihawk's eyes gleam with interest.

"I missed you, old friend," Shanks mutters around his beer.

Mihawk gives a smile, a mere fractionally inching up of his mouth, but it is a smile.

 **98.**

They exchange information about the one person they both had been searching for and find out that they both have a lot of things they need to tell each other.

"It would have been easier if you had kept a den-den mushi," Mihawk mutters. "But it's not like either of us could afford it back then."

Shanks knows that too, but he has to agree. Keeping in contact would have made their search easier and faster. A united effort instead of two separate ones.

"It's done now," he says instead. "We can dwell on the what-if's later. How do we find St. Roswald?"

They exchange annoyed glances. For all the time they had spent apart, neither had really contemplated on what they would do if the one who owns her is a tenryuubito.

 **99.**

The paper that comes in the next day derails all their plans.

There is a break out in Mariejois by a fishman.

While neither of them have anything against fishman, there is also the uncertainty that one of the slaves that escaped was Namika.

"Freaking fishman," Shanks mutters just to relieve his feelings.

Mihawk kicks him under the table and tries to borrow a messenger pigeon. The bird fights and there is a mass of feathers and screeching of featherly indignation.

Shanks gets tired and utilizes his conquerors haki to subdue it.

 **100.**

The letter comes back affirmative.

Shanks doesn't know what to feel.

He stares at the written words and feels his fingers turn numb, before a fierce joy embraces him and he gives Mihawk a helplessly happy stare.

"We-we really didn't need to look for her," he said. "But I am glad we did."

Mihawk smacks him on the head. "Idiot. If we didn't search, we wouldn't have known she was among those that escaped."

Shanks finally laughs. How strange, wet tears trail down his cheeks as well.

Mihawk pats his shoulders awkwardly and gives his own lopsided smile, the strange look of elated joy on the swordsmans face.

.

* * *

.

 **Yay, separation done….except, I don't want to spoil anybody. Note: Prequel to Tomb on the Hill. That means this doesn't have a happy ending…**

 **Please R & R.**

 **~Hallen**


End file.
